I have read several different opinions using snowshoe hare’s feet for wings. Some say to use the hair between the toes, others say to use the hair on the heel. Some say to use the coarse guard hair and others say to use the fine, “light and fuzzy” underfur. Which do you use for wings?
Joe
You need to split the toes and use the hair between them. That is the water resistant hair. The whole bottom of the foot is good to use not the top.
An article on tying tips in American Angler - that had a couple of editing mistakes (stated one thing in the text a couple of times and the opposite under the pictures) - got me thinking about what I had always done when using snowshoe hare’s fur for wings and if others used it the same way I have or the way the article says to use it. I guess I have two questions:
1.) Do you think the best part of the foot to use is between the toes, or the heel, or are both are equally good?
2.) Do you use the coarse guard hairs or the “light and fuzzy” underfur?
In their book:
http://www.amazon.com/Tying-Emergers-A-Complete-Guide/dp/1571883061
Schollmeyer and Leeson break down the foot into three regions (ppgs. 28 -29). Region 3 - “…from the middle of the foot to the heel is the prime stuff. It is fine, soft crinkly, densely packed on the skin and nicely translucent. Ordinarily, contains few, if any,‘underfur’ type hairs and most of the fur here grows to quite nearly a uniform length…”
Split the foot for better access.
PT/TB
IIRC Dave Hughes, in his huge trout fly book, says the fur between the toes is best… I will have to check that out…
I think I like the stuff between the toes better.
There is also the very real possibility hares from different areas have different fur and all have different fur at different times of the year…
What do you mean “fur between the toes”? I don’t understand. I tie midges down to size 30 and I use the soft underfur for the wing. I use the fur from the middle of the foot to the heel. I never knew there was fur between the toes. You won’t get many flies tied if you only used the stuff between the toes. For larger flies I used the fur with some of the finer guard hairs or whatever they’re called. There’s something I’m not understanding. Please enlighten me. Thanks, All.
I guess the question is whether you are using the hair for Catskill style split wings or for Usual (Comparadun) wings. In my experience, the hair closer or at the toes is longer and straighter and the hair at the heel is worn down, so shorter yet curlier.
The optimum hair IMO is from the ‘instep’ - long enough and curly enough for good floatation. I think, as with feather hackle, you have to look at the material and choose what looks best for the purpose. Whichever you choose, hold your cut selection by the tip (quite firmly) and brush out the underfur - this makes excellent dubbing.
Regardless of what part you choose, you will find the foot MUCH more usable if you first take a sharp knife (careful, don’t cut yourself, the foot is tough), and slice the foot down from the top between the two main front toes. Then split the foot length wise. (Maybe use some work gloves - the bones splinter like chicken and can be sharp.) You will see the fur is much longer and easier to snip once you are looking at the 1/2 foot, and it is easier to determine what part is best for your needs.
Thanks. I see now that it’s the fur near the toes. That stuff is very coarse and slippery.
Pardon the pseudo-thread hijack, but what is the most efficient way to split a foot? Hadn’t thought of this before, but the advantages are obvious.
Thanks!
Efficiency is not the question…
Keeping from cutting your thumb off is the trick. I put them in a wood vise, toes-up, and split them with a very sharp butcher knife… The mass of the knife makes it very easy. I leave the two halves attached to each other.
I use a heavy knife. A knife will lessen the damage to the hair.
What is the advantage of splitting them? I’ve never tried that.
It exposes hair
To answer the ‘how to split’ question first - I use a heavy knife and cut down between the knuckles, that seems to be the toughest part - then the foot splits to the heel rather easily. And as I said originally, and others repeated - don’t cut yourself.
As to why - the fur on the bottom of the foot is about twice as long as you think it is when viewed from ‘outside’. And when cutting the hair on a non-split foot you have to dig down with the scissors (which are on somewhat of an angle). This wastes hair and doesn’t allow you to get a chunk as long or as clean as you might like. Once the foot is split you cut straight in for the hair you want. You have a better view of the quality of hair, and you get a cleaner snip.
After working with it so often that makes sense. I just never thought of splitting the foot. I will now.
Just saw this pattern by tightlinevideo - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7ghhpkRCUk - and they say to use neither the coarse guard hair or the soft fuzzy underfur, but the “middle hairs”. Now I’m really confused.
Joe
Don’t worry this will be on topic… Eventually!
Since May I have had problems with the heating in my home. Basically I have had none. This has been causing problems with damp.
The other day I found a snowshoe hares foot that had fallen down behind the drawers I keep hair and hackle in. They are all fairly well sealed up, the foot wasn’t.
In response to this thread I thought I would try splitting the foot. That’s when I discovered the damp had gotten to the foot. About 70% of the hair fell off! Not wishing to waste this I collected it up, dried it, and gave it a wizz in the coffee grinder. It came out very soft, and easily worked as dubbing. Next spring one shop I tie for will be wanting dozens and dozens of White Wulffs with Wally Wings for the Mayfly Hatch. I know just what I’ll be using as dubbing for them now. Hopefully this material will make them “extra floaty” to use the technical term!
When you have used up all the precious “between the toe” hair on your hare’s foot the rest will make great dubbing if given a good blast in a coffee grinder. Just a way to get a little more value out of your foot. (Which seems to be the point of splitting them in the first place).
Now back to the battle with my landlord to get my heating fixed before winter. Woops! too late. The brass monkeys are already looking for welders.
Cheers,
A,
Hi Joe,
He explains it pretty well in the video. He cut the clump of hair from the heel of the foot. He didn’t want a lot of the finer fuzzy underfur that’s right next to the bone, and he didn’t want any longer stray guard hairs sticking out either. He just wanted to use a nice compact clump that was about the same in total length. If he kept too much of the underfur, it would be a little too bulky for that sized fly. If you look close, he is useing some of the underfur and the shorter more even guard hairs in his clump.
Regards,
Mark